Snake Eyes
by Sonya Omun
Summary: When an opportunity to confront Seimei presents itself, Kio doesn't hesitate to try his luck. One-shot.


**Note: **Some minor changes made on June 8th, 2012.

**SNAKE EYES**

'I know who you are.'

A slender, pitch-black eyebrow was raised, and Kio stuck his chin out boldly. Even though spotting the fair figure he recognised from pictures was entirely accidental, Kio had mentally rehearsed this meeting many times before.

Admittedly, he hadn't expected the dark-haired devil's smile to radiate such charm as he responded in a smooth tone, 'Then that makes one of us.'

Stepping forward, Kio sat in the empty chair across from Seimei. There were were only a few people around them on the café terrace, and no one saw the teen's charming smile grow forced around the edges, it's warmth dropping several degrees.

'I am expecting company shortly.' The changes in his voice were subtle, but it was surprising how one so young could sound so forbidding.

'I don't care,' replied Kio acidly, disregarding the frosty feeling in his chest when Seimei's smile grew even colder. 'I want to talk to you.'

The pause was short, the calculating look on Seimei's sharply-sculpted face only fleeting. He then sat back in his chair, fingers intertwining in his lap in a display of superior confidence. 'So, talk.'

Trying to exude a similar air of self-assurance, Kio slung one leg over the other, tossing back his unruly hair that threatened to obstruct his glare. 'I know who you are,' he repeated, then elaborating, 'to Soubi.'

'Is that so?' Kio couldn't shake the resemblance of a predator studying its prey with Seimei's gaze boring into him, sizing him up.

'Yes. And I'm not as big an idiot as Soubi. I'm not scared of you.' He emphasized those words with a rude finger pointed at Seimei's face.

Seimei didn't so much as blink at the accusatory finger jabbing the air between them, his gaze unwaveringly locked on Kio's face.

'I have no idea what you are referring to.' The airy tone didn't correspond with Seimei's body language. Long fingers curling more around each other in his lap, sitting perfectly still, he looked more like a viper coiling up in anticipation for a strike.

Clenching his jaw, face set in defiance, Kio kept pushing. 'Don't pretend you don't understand. I know you know Soubi.'

The appraising silence lasted longer this time.

'What of it?' The question came underscored with a harshness that was expressed in the tightening lines of the younger man's face.

Kio, feeling restless, produced a lollipop and picked at the wrapper, shredding it open more to occupy his hands than to get to the treat beneath. He used the moment to gather his thoughts, swirling his tongue around the sweet candy. While he did so, he made sure to continue his glowering at Seimei.

'I've seen it.' He spoke slower now, trying to match Seimei's cool demeanour. 'I've seen some of the things you do to him. I don't doubt that there's even more that I haven't seen.'

With a slow, deliberate movement, Seimei leaned forward, his forearms resting on the edge of the table, his fingertips delicately touching. Kio thought the teen had appeared increasingly scary as his smile diminished, but somehow it was worse now that it returned in full glory. The predatory gleam in those cold eyes a stark contrast to the amiable set of his mouth.

'Why don't _you_,' the emphasis was slight, but it managed to clearly convey Seimei's condescension, 'cease being cryptic, and be so polite as to tell me why you are here. Because I do not know what you are talking about.'

With an angry gesture, Kio tore the lollipop from his mouth, clanking it against his own teeth before brandishing it wildly in Seimei's direction. A droplet of spit flew from the candy's surface to land on Seimei's cheek. Beneath Seimei's eye, a muscle twitched.

'Don't bullshit me!' Kio shouted. 'I know what you do! I've seen the wounds! And _you_ of all people should treat Soubi better!'

The silence was deafening, even amidst the sounds of the street and the bustling people. The few other patrons on the terrace glanced their way, Kio breathing heavily and Seimei looking stoic.

When Seimei moved, it was so sudden it made Kio jump.

'Join me for a stroll, won't you?' Seimei's voice sounded terse as he pushed back from the table. Kio was sure he saw white knuckles pressed against already pale skin as Seimei clasped his chair.

A little more hesitantly, Kio rose as well. It was harder to remind himself he was Seimei's senior in age when the seventeen-year-old towered nearly a full head over him as they left the terrace.

They didn't go far.

Rounding the corner the café was located on, they set off down a smaller street. Kio was in the middle of adjusting his jacket, trying to reel in his temper when it happened. It went so quickly that he didn't notice Seimei had turned to him until he was grabbed.

A hand sank into Kio's hair, cool fingers scratching his scalp before tightening, roughly yanking him off balance. Grunting, disoriented, Kio felt himself being dragged into the alley they'd been passing by his hair and the front of his shirt.

Acutely aware he was in trouble, Kio's nails scrabbled against the hand tightly fisted in his hair. The muscles in his neck screamed from the rough handling, the sharp angle his neck was forced into making it hard to breathe.

'Let- go-!' He gasped, fingernails digging into the other's skin. Just as he attempted to throw up his elbow, hoping to catch his assailant in the face, Kio was slammed into something hard and solid. Seimei's grip on his hair made it easy to ensure the back of Kio's head connected with the brick wall behind him before he was relinquished. He wasn't fast enough to blink away the black swirls that encroached on his vision, mind swimming from the blow. Steel flashed. Kio froze.

All pretence of a smile had vanished from Seimei's face as he pinned Kio to the wall with a knife to his throat. Kio had barely caught sight of the short, wicked-looking blade before it was pressed against his skin.

Kio pressed his head into the wall, brick scraping skin through his hair, trying to keep sight of the knife without moving his head. The sharp coldness lightly scraped over his jugular, and Kio shivered. The image of long, jagged scars gouged into Soubi's skin with sickening care flashed before his mind's eye.

Only once had he mentioned to Soubi his idea of confronting Seimei, with Soubi's perpetual refusal to do so. Never before had he seen Soubi's eyes grow wide with clear horror. The grip with which he had latched onto Kio's forearm had left bruised marks for nearly a week, his voice hushed and urgent.

'You don't understand, Kio. You cannot talk to Seimei! You do not know him. Besides,' the grasping hand suddenly turned to a shove, 'there's nothing for you to discuss. Don't interfere in things you do not understand. It has nothing to do with you.'

Now, Kio realized the harsh way in which Soubi dismissed any mention of Kio speaking to Seimei might have been an attempt to protect him.

The rest of the world felt impossibly distant in that silent alleyway, with only the faint prick of an invisible knife, and Seimei's eyes on him.

'Now, then.' Despite the sudden outburst of violence, despite the blade, Seimei's voice remained calm and controlled. 'Let's stop being coy.' Kio felt the steel tip twirl thoughtfully against his skin, making him wish fervently he could sink though the bricks pressed to his back.

'You keep claiming you know. Why don't you tell me _exactly_ what you think you know.'

Those eyes. The darkness of those eyes slithered through Kio's skin, and seeped into his extremities, weighing his bones down with fear. The pitiless stare of a deadly viper. His palms were sweaty, arms impotently pressed to his sides by the threat of a slit throat. But still he kept his lips squeezed shut.

He couldn't get Soubi into more trouble. Fearing he had already cause vicarious harm to his friend by disregarding his urges not to speak to Seimei, Kio feverishly tried to think of a way to answer without implicating Soubi even more.

The smile that crept back on Seimei's face was thin, only one corner of his mouth curling up in a leer. The twist of his lips further diminished his youthful appearance, revealing a cruelty far beyond his years. 'Not feeling so talkative anymore? What a pity. Because there was something you said that particularly peaked my interest.'

Slowly, exuding the same aura of confidence, Seimei leaned closer, shifting the knife to rest the whole length of the blade against Kio's throat. He spoke low and sibilant, a deadly hiss while his stare pinned Kio as much as the knife did.

'You say you know who I am, what I am to Soubi, and that I "of all people" should treat him well. Tell me-' increased pressure on the knife underlined the command, and Kio felt a drop of blood slide into his shirt. '- who do you think I am?'

He tried to stall, tried to think of the best answer, but the knife urged him on again. A second and third drop of blood slipped down past his collar.

Kio's lips barely moved as he stiffly answered, 'You're Soubi's boyfriend.'

This time, it was Seimei that froze. 'What?'

'You're- You-' Kio's brow, dotted with tiny beads of sweat, knitted into a frown. 'Aren't you?'

For long seconds, Seimei only stared, face completely blank. Then-

He laughed.

Laughed.

And laughed.

Kio didn't dare move, feverishly trying to gauge what this unpredicted turn of events would mean for him. He was completely thrown off by the sudden outburst of mirth, and the melodious laughter that now filled the alley.

'Y-you think-!' The knife fell away so abruptly that Kio didn't even step away to put more distance between them, only looking bewildered as Seimei clutched his sides with the force of his sudden laughter. Somewhere in that short movement, the knife disappeared from his hand as suddenly as it had appeared.

Seimei straightened, chortling, and Kio saw the tears of amusement clinging to the corners of his eyes.

'You know nothing.' And just like that, still chuckling, he turned away and disappeared out of the alley, leaving a confused Kio with only drops of scarlet as proof of their meeting.

**A/N: Thank you very much for your time!**


End file.
